


Just Let Them Talk

by beyondthebottle



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Drama, M/M, Pre-Series, Series Re-write
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-15 18:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5795452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyondthebottle/pseuds/beyondthebottle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James G. House is the only child of famous Doctor Greg House. He is the best kept secret of Princeton-Plainsboro and House's life and not for reasons the team thinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Let Them Talk

**Author's Note:**

> Setting: Summer of 2009 where House is in Mayfield.

"The nurses said you wanted to talk." Doctor Nolan said leaning back in his chair. "You didn't poison Alvie did you?" Even though he was joking Nolan was hoping there would be a negative answer for that question. 

The former doctor looked down at the ground bouncing his cane lightly on the old tile floor. "I need a day pass." He finally looked up but not at Nolan but over his shoulder.

"Why?"

House rolled his eyes. "What the hell do you think? I want to leave for the day."

Nolan shook his head. "I need a better answer than that."

There was a huff of annoyance from the taller man. "Fine, I need a day pass to see my son."

That was new. Nolan leaned forward resting his elbows on his desk raising his eyebrows. Nowhere in House's file did it mention the man having a son. Nolan wouldn't put it past the man for making something like this up.

"You have a son," he asked with an air of disbelief.

"Do I have to repeat myself?" House took interest in the ceiling tiles now. "Yes, I have a kid. I got lucky one night and then unlucky for the next eighteen years."

Nolan pushing himself up from his desk going around to sit at one of the chairs in front of his desk, pointing for House to do the same. "Well, tell me about him."

House stood there for a moment thinking frowning deeply at Nolan making the psychiatrist question if he was going to sit. With a shrug House dropped down across from him. He bounced his cane softly on the floor.

"What do you want to know?"

Nolan drummed his fingers across the arm of the chair. "Anything. Why don't you start at the beginning?"

House ran his fingers along his chin rubbing the graying hair there. "He was born on a Thursday at nine thirty five at night." Sitting back against the chair crossing his arms over his belly looking up at the ceiling again.

\----

_House ran down the hall pushing past people as he did. "Make a hole," he yelled. His stethoscope falling off his neck as he ran clicking on the ground forgotten has its owner run faster. He slammed himself into a wall not to hit an old man leaning heavily on a walker. "Wilson!" He yelled spotting his best friend._

_Wilson took off leading the way down the hall. "You're late!"_

_"Yeah, well I was sort of busy!" He caught up easily to the younger man. "When did you get in?"_

_"Tell that to Renee." Wilson was already breathing heavy. "An hour ago."_

_"Thanks for coming." House and Wilson both slide across the floor._

_"Wouldn't miss this for the world," Wilson panted slapping House on the back._

\----

"His mother? Who is she?"

Blue eyes spotted a pattern on the ceiling tiles. "Renee Walden was best friends and roommates with Cuddy at Michigan. We hadn't seen each other since college till I ran into her in Baltimore after I had just finished my residency. She had just started at Johns Hopkins."

Nolan nodded his head. "Were you dating?"

House scoffed at the idea. "No, we were just pretty much fuck buddies."

"Your son is a product of a purely sexual relationship," Nolan spoke with the same disappointment that House's own father shared.

"This isn't a fucking Hallmark movie. I don't care what he's a product of," his fingers dug into the muscles of his arms. "He's still my son."

\----

_"Is he alright?" A sleepy voice came from the bed. House looked up nodding._

_"He's perfect." He was in awe of the tiny human resting in his hands against his chest. "Seven pounds and two ounces and nineteen inches long with ten fingers and ten toes." There was a tiny kiss to the baby's head._

_A gentle snore from the sofa drew the couple's attention to their sleeping friend._

_"Did you ask him?" Renee asked sitting up slowly leaning back against the pillows. She reached for the baby._

_House slowly and gently handed the baby over. "I did. I don't really see why we need a Godfather. Either one of us is religious."_

_Renee ran her finger down the baby's cheek. "If anything were to happen, besides, your father would never let your mother raise him." She gently rocked the no-name baby. "My father isn't come anywhere near him."_

_"Point." House sat on the edge of the bed. "You're fine with the name then?"_

_"James Gregory House."_

_\----_

"You're right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to judge."

House huffed and rolled his eyes. "That's your job: to judge."

Nolan held his hands up in surrender. "You named your son after Wilson?"

He shrugged. "It made sense. We both hated our fathers for our own reasons. Wilson is a good man, a good friend. He was rather excited about it." House reached up to rub his eyebrow. "He turned pink when he held James for the first time."

Nolan gave him a tiny smile. "It's understandable. It's a big moment to have your friend name his child after you."

"He cried too. Like a big old baby. He cried so hard he woke James up."

\----

_"I don't want to hurt him." The tone of Wilson's voice was pure dread. "What if I drop him?"_

_"Then Renee would get out that bed and kick your ass. Support his head. Don't you have nieces and nephews?"_

_Wilson nodded slowly. "Yeah, I never saw them this small." He bit his lip watching the baby wiggle a little. "He's beautiful, Greg."_

_"Yeah, he's pretty damn perfect." Wilson looked up smiling seeing House leaning over his shoulder. "I say that now till he's keeping me up screaming at three am."_

_Wilson chuckled. "Good chance you'll be awake anyway."_

_\----_

"Wilson was visiting from Philadelphia. I caught him at his parent's house. I was sort of surprised that he came. It's not like it's his kid."

Nolan leaned his hand against his chin listening.

"Hell, Wilson's parents are better grandparents than Renee's father and my father put together. They're good for James. They watch him when Wilson and I have to leave for something."

Nolan frowned. "What about Renee?"

House shook his head. "After they came home she went back to school. I started working midday shifts so I could be home with James at night and in the morning."

"You raised him."

House shrugged. "He wasn't part of her plan. But, unlike her I added him to the plan."

Nolan frowned. "You hate change."

"It was our fault he was there to start with. I wasn't going to take it out on someone who couldn't lift his own head." House sighed. "I was fired from a hospital in Baltimore with good timing too. Renee was about to start her residency in Flushing. James and I moved to Princeton." House rubbed his eyebrow. "She would come to see him on the weekends sometimes."

"You don't sound angry."

"I was." House shrugged. "But, it was a long time ago."

\----

_A piercing cry rang through the apartment. House grunted as he rolled out of the bed dragging his feet across the floor to pick the baby up. "James," he spoke s_ oftly _rocking the baby. "What's the matter? You ate like ten minutes ago."_

_He bounced the baby gently sighing looking at the clock. He had two minutes of sleep. It was a record. Changing the boy's diaper House went towards the sofa slowly dropping himself against the cushions. He snuggled James against his chest wondering if he could sleep like this. He thought about calling Wilson._

_Then the phone rang._

_Quickly grabbing it he didn't want to wake James. "Dr. House," he nestled it between his shoulder and cheek._

_"Hey, it's me. I can't make it this weekend."_

_House sighed. "Too busy to drive an hour to see your son?"_

_"You mean the son you took an hour away?"_

_"You didn't stop me."_

_"Because someone keeps getting his ass fired!" Came her fast reply. "I can't make it, Greg. Okay? Get over it. Tired? Find a sitter." She quickly hung up the phone._

_He called Wilson after that._

_\----_

"Her missing one weekend turned into missing two in a row. Then all of them." House rubbed his eyebrow again. "She didn't even come to his birthday." He crossed his arms over his chest again. "That pissed me off more than anything. She gave birth to him," he gestured with one hand, "and she couldn't even show up for his birthday."

"How many people where there?"

"Wilson, his parents, my mother got away for the weekend, and me."

"Your father didn't come?"

House huffed. "Please, he only saw James twice in his whole life. A few days after he was born and at Oma's funeral. James didn't go to his funeral. Hell, I didn't want to go. I wasn't going to force him to grieve for a man who didn't give a shit about him."

\----

  _Wilson was sure he had never seen the apartment this clean before. All of the guitars were hung up on the wall, the piano lid was closed, and all the books and toys put away. House cleaned up pretty well, that was for sure. Or House's mother did it all for him._

_Wilson laughs quietly watching James lean on the sofa trying to supporting his wobbly legs. James smacked the sofa cushion as he moved further down._

_"Greg, has he taken his first steps yet?" Wilson's mother, Sophie asked. Wilson held out his hand for James to take when he got closer._

_"Took them yesterday he walked right to Jimmy." House placed a small plate on the coffee table. "Then Jimmy cried."_

_"Hey! I did not!" Wilson spoke up rolling his eyes at the older man. "I don't know if I would say he walked per say, but, he took a few steps and then fell down." James buried his face against Wilson's thigh. "Your daddy is so mean, buddy." He gently lifted the boy up._

_\----_

"Wilson was a major part of James' childhood?"

House stretched his bad leg out. "Every chance he got he was there at the apartment. His parents would watch James when I didn't have a sitter. One of the few people I trusted with him." He rubbed his thigh gently trying to work the knot out of his leg.

"What about Stacy?"

House shrugged again. "She wasn't a huge fan of the single dad thing. James was a toddler by that time. He got clingy a lot of them times. He would scream if I left him with her. I had just thought it was because he wasn't use to her. He was never like that with Henry and Sophie."

"Do you think she did anything to him?"

"No!" A spark of anger flared inside the doctor. "We had one date and then a week later she moved in. We fucked with his routine. He went from a house with just his father to having a strange woman in his house."

House sat back against the chair letting his head drop over the top looking up at the ceiling. Either of them spoke for a few minutes. After ten minutes Nolan couldn't take the quiet anymore.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Do we have to do this?" There was another huff from the gray haired man.

"Do you want your day pass," Nolan asked setting his features.

It took a few moments before House spoke again. Speaking slowly and softly he said: "Sometime after Renee got married and I was fired from another job I noticed that James wasn't developing like a normal child. His preschool teacher noticed as well. At first I thought the poor motor skills were because he was a kid. A rough and tumble kind of kid. I was the same way when I was little."

"But..."

"But, he didn't make eye contact..." House sighed slowly swallowing. "His speech was almost nonexistent."

"Your son has Autism?"

\----

_Elbows on the desk holding the phone in one hand he almost didn't want Wilson to answer the phone. He was getting ready to hang up when heard the sleepy reply from his friend._

_"House?"_

_"Jimmy," He swallowed._

_"What's the matter? You okay?" House heard rustling of sheets as the younger man sat up. "James okay?"_

_House rubbed his forehead. "I figured out what's wrong with him."_

_A shaky breath was heard on the other end of the line. "Please tell me it's not cancer."_

_"No." He heard Wilson mutter something but he wasn't sure what it was. "He has..."_

_"Greg, whatever it is I'll be there to help. Just tell me."_

_"He has Asperger Syndrome."_

_There was what sounded like a chuckle from the younger man. "It could be worse. He's still going to be able to live a life, Greg. We'll make it work. I promise. Didn't I promise you that when Renee left?"_

_"Yeah... thanks Wilson."_

_"Go to bed, damn it. I'll see you guys this weekend."_

_\----_

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first House fic and I'm a little worried... just so you know. I normally don't like fics like this but I was given a challenge to make it work canon-wise and to re-write the last two seasons.


End file.
